Smithy

My sister has gone home, and if the weather weren't too blustery for me to want to move the trailer I'd be on my way home as well. As it is, I have a day to clear the wreckage, get the trailer ready to move, and catch up on a few posts as well as some neglected business. There isn't actual wreckage, of course, but things have to be stowed and restored for travel. For instance, this is what happened to the back half of the trailer, aka the "living room" while she was here: The couch that folds out to a Queen-sized sleeper bed turns out to be rock-hard. Fortunately, I've brought along an inflatable mattress that worked very well. It has a built-in pump for inflating and deflating. This was a first use for the mattress. I hope getting it folded back up, with the help of the deflation pump, will stuff the genie back into the bottle. I've already stowed the cookbooks she brought me. There's a funny story behind that. A cousin who was a consummate cook and collector of cookbooks died last year. While my sister was helping clear out the house, she called me and read off titles to see what I might like that hadn't been claimed by either of our cousin's sons. (Our grandmother's cookbooks, for instance, went with them.) By the time this telephone conversation had finished, there were way too many books to consider shipping. We weeded the collection down. There were still too many books to consider shipping. So she's been keeping them until we could meet in person. I'll have to show all the cookbooks some other time, probably in the "Show us your latest cookbook" topic, since most of these are put away under the bed already. Two cookbooks are out for easy grabbing in my sparsely-filled book cupboard: But in truth, I've stocked up on so much prepared food thanks to a trip yesterday that I probably won't be consulting any cookbooks before I get home. I also still have a few leftovers from our meals together. I'll tell more about those in other posts.

Aha. @Duvel, note the correction here. i was mistaken about the meaning! Thanks, @Tropicalsenior and @Margaret Pilgrim!

Oh, that gave me a good morning laugh! But in case your question is genuine: here it means "flat" as opposed to "fat" or "puffy" or "round". These little filets were indeed quite flattened, and so delicate that the contents fell apart as I was spooning out the amount I wanted. I used about half the tin's worth. I'll show it when I make the next batch of this stuff. Edited to add, much much later: I was mistaken about the meaning. Please read on.

It is always, always, always drier downwind of a mountain range than upwind, where "downwind" indicates the usual wind patterns. At our latitudes the winds are "prevailing westerlies" so the western sides of mountain ranges are wetter than the eastern sides. The mountains wring moisture out of the atmosphere as the wind blows up and over the mountains. Death Valley is especially dry because it's separated from (and downwind of) the Pacific Ocean by at least 3 large mountain ranges. Eastern Washington and Oregon are much drier than their western sides for the same reason. The drier region downwind of the mountain range is its rain shadow. Since you're coming up this highway, I very much hope you take time to stop and visit Manzanar if you haven't done so before. We've been touring, and I'm learning that I can do at most 2 of these 3 things at once: cook, visit, write. We've been doing a lot of touring and cooking (and eating), but the writing about it will have to wait. I will say, however, that I finally got around to my first attempt at duplicating the Celestial Sauce from Cafe Luna. Pretty good stuff. I'll write more about it later. The ingredients -- well, most of them anyway: And the final sauce: Texture about right. Flavor quite good. We kept wondering what could be done to improve it, and coming up blank while we kept dipping our bread into it. The fireplace burgers afterward were anticlimactic.

That's how it has seemed to me: dry, dry, barren, even for an area that is normally dry. Thanks for this excellent description!

The dog rides in the truck with me. The cats stay in the trailer, but they generally ride up in the bedroom so they weren't in any danger from breakage. Once I discovered the damage I was careful to clean and clear it all away...counters mopped, floor mopped, stove grills removed so the stove could be mopped. I must say, the floor hasn't been that clean in weeks! Last night I made a celebratory "welcome" dinner for my sister: mushrooms, garlic and red bell peppers sweated, then barely-cooked noodles added to make an alfredo sauce around them. Smoked salmon from home mixed in at the end. It was wonderful, and I'm quite pleased with it. It's one of my hip-pocket recipes: give me the ingredients and I don't need to consult any notes. Still, sometimes it comes out better than others, and I suspect the slightly narrower no-yolk egg noodles she brought has something to do with it. Sorry, but I don't have any photos! She arrived after dark and needed to be guided up to the spot, and then we were too busy gabbing and eating. Maybe I'll show you leftovers later.

For what it's worth, I find that most cilantro stems chop up beautifully and add bulk and flavor. I wouldn't do that with parsley, but cilantro seems to whizz right up, stem and all. I learned that trick from a chef who made a delicious salad dressing using an entire bunch of cilantro, stems and all.

Thanks. I've tried pinotage a few times, and even brought home a bottle or two from a South African winery some years ago. I've decided I don't like it. I know that I can get a refund through Naked Wines if I don't like a wine, but it feels abusive (to them, not to me) to try something I almost certainly won't like. However! Have you ever tried Arabella's shiraz/voignier blend? Now there's a combination I'd never have expected to try, much less like. It was one of those mystery gifts. I like it very much.

This bread is dark, not particularly sweet, with an even crumb to make it a good sandwich bread. They actually call it Squaw Bread in house, as they've always done, but when I asked what term they now use in public he said they're calling Prairie Bread. The recipes for Prairie Bread that I could find easily online don't match; they're loaded with nuts and seeds. This recipe for Squaw Bread looks more nearly like the right thing, but I don't detect the molasses sweetness that this recipe calls for although the unsweetened cocoa may blunt the sweetness. My copy of the Los Angeles Times Cookbook lists the ingredients as whole wheat flour, rye flour, all-purpose flour, nonfat milk, brown sugar, honey, raisins and the usual yeast/water/salt additions. *Shudder* I promise you this bread didn't have raisins. It doesn't have any inclusions, in fact. It's just a good, smooth, very brown bread. It was a favorite of my dear departed friend because of its healthful ingredients. I've written Wolfe's and asked if they're willing to share the ingredients, and maybe even baker's percentages.

It took me two days of driving to get here whereas I'd hoped for only one, but I had to spend time horsing around with equipment issues: jump-starting the pickup because the trailer had drained batteries in the cold and gloom of L.A. stormy weather, and later having to dig out the air compressor (twice!) because of low tire pressure. Still, here I am in yet another very quiet, very beautiful spot. It's clear that there's been more rain here than there was in the lower desert, even though I'm in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada. How lovely to see flowers! I saw beautiful blooms along the road also, but couldn't stop for any photos. That sandwich I showed you from Wolfe's served me well for two road-stop lunches. Here, I'll show it to you again. 🙂 Prairie bread with roast beef, mayo, mustard, tomatoes, sprouts, pepperoncini, pepper jack cheese. One half was enough for each day. I had also purchased two chicken enchiladas there. I had one of them on my overnight stop along the way, in a truck stop. I wasn't sure exactly how I wanted to cook it, and settled for cooking it in the oven at about 350F on a steel baking sheet. It was an economical way to cook the enchilada, but I should have put it on something like parchment paper. The sheet had to soak overnight before I could clean it. Let me tell you, these enchiladas are the thing of my dreams. The chicken is cooked well enough to be tender, but still has some chew. There's a something tart (tomatillo salsa?) and something that gives a little bit of heat. The tortillas are corn tortillas, amazingly tender for corn, and the masa flavor adds beautifully. I'm not sure what-all else is in there, but I think I've spotted guacamole. I think I tried for a money shot but couldn't get one properly. I was ecstatic, though: the dinner was excellent, and I had another still in abeyance! The next morning I hit the road, found a campground, and learned not to trust either Google Maps or my GPS when they try to take me The Short Way. I don't know whether that was what caused the mystery damage, but when I opened out I discovered that the microwave oven had somehow opened itself, dropped the turntable disk onto the hard counter, then closed itself again. Glass all over the counters and floor! No photo. We had one of those jack-in-the-box spillages from the freezer some years back, but that didn't result in nearly as much damage. The scenery really is marvelous here! Last night I had the other enchilada. This time I was smarter about the cooking vessel, and used on of the Corelle pie plates I'd picked up at a garage sale in Yuma. First time using one! It worked well. It would have worked better if I hadn't been distracted by a long, drawn-out phone conversation with a friend who calls roughly once a year. The texture suffered badly from overcooking, but the flavors didn't. Breakfast this morning: some of that great kalamata sourdough bread I bought in San Diego, with a mashup of lebneh (cheese) balls I brought from home. I keep forgetting I have them. This morning they hit the spot.

The next day I moved on into the L.A. Basin to stay one last time at the house of the dear friend whose birthday we've always celebrated at Midwinter. She died last January at age 104, and this weekend was the Celebration of Life for her. I chose my travel time carefully, being leery of L.A. traffic at the best of times. I chose well, and only had a few incidents of needing to overcome what the Victorians would have called The Vapors. (There's no hitting a "Pause" button when things get tight! I just have to keep breathing, stick to my job, and hope all the other drivers do theirs.) My friend's daughter made me welcome, but I slept outside in the trailer in order not to contribute to the household's chaos; her two best friends from college were also staying with her and had the guest rooms occupied. I made an interesting discovery that first morning: with the kitchen glide in, because I was parked on the street, the kitchen island is an impediment! Fortunately, I could reach the stove to make my morning coffee. The morning and evening walks were beautiful. I loved seeing so many flowers in bloom. It's a beautiful, quiet neighborhood with well-tended yards. The night I arrived, my friend made a stellar dinner for the four of us. Meltingly tender salmon, crisp asparagus, rice, steamed carrots, excellent baguette and cheese. Chocolate chip mini-baguettes for dessert. She knocked herself out. It was a brilliant dinner. There's a citrus-butter sauce atop the salmon and rice, but it doesn't show well here. I don't have any other photos of food we ate there. The next day was the Celebration of Life, with hors d'ouvres at a reception afterward. When we decamped for the night back to her house, we sat up till all hours talking and drinking wine. The next morning I visited the local Trader Joe's and the wonderful one-off Wolfe's Market nearby. They've struggled to stay open during these changing times, and their prices have shot up dramatically, but their deli is still excellent. I bought a sandwich for the road, some potato salad, salad dressing, and chicken enchiladas that I'll show in another post. I miss Wolfe's. They used to have a market also, but now it's just a deli and catering. Still a treasure.

It's been a busy week. In a few hours my sister will arrive to visit for a few days, and we'll be busy touring and visiting. I'll use some of my quiet time to update this story. I moved out of Yuma and back to our beloved boondocking spot for one night. It was absolutely marvelous to have dead silence outside: a little unnerving to not even hear any night birds, but blessed not to have traffic or barking dogs. If I worked at it I could hear highway noise a mile away, sometimes. It was also hot. Much, much, much too hot for comfort and I didn't want to start the generator so I could have air conditioning. It was also much, much, much too hot that evening to be interested in building a campfire although I'd intended to do so in honor of my sorely-missed darling. So the campfire structure remained pristine. I did go for walks, first in the afternoon heat and next in the morning. If anything I missed him more there than I had in Yuma. Yuma wouldn't have been his speed. This was, heat and all. I so wanted to show him my discoveries. I have never seen ironwood trees in bloom before. On the highway I thought I was seeing lavender-colored trees. "No, it can't be," I said to myself. But since I was driving, I couldn't stop or take photos. When I got set up and started walking, I found that they are, indeed, lavender when they're blooming. They're a member of the pea family, and they have the classic pea flowers for blossoms. I'm not sure what I ate that night. Probably my first attempt at a wrap, using the lavash I'd purchased in San Diego. I don't think I realized what I was in for! I used about half of one sheet, loaded it with hummus and tabbouli, and ate it. That wrap will need more. Maybe filling it with more interesting and varied stuffings, then grilling it as a proper wrap from Babylon Market in Tucson would do it. The next morning was so pleasantly cool that I considered staying one more day, but I was on a schedule. I admired the sunrise... Made a sandwich for the road... and headed off to the Salton Sea, only a couple of hours away. It was hot there too, and not quite as quiet, but beautiful anyway. I was glad to have moved on. That night I reheated some of the pork dish I'd made. Again I didn't want to mess with the generator, so I heated it on the stovetop in a pan. Not bad! And that's a good thing, because I have yet one more helping of it that I'm about to go have for lunch.

I'm so sorry that happened, and I'm very surprised that neither of you could detect the freezer burn after it was thawed! What a shame!

Wow! I wish I could justify ordering that. When I click on the link you give, it lists the Staub as $149.99. In addition, there's a 15% off offer for new email subscribers. I must not. I must not. I must not...

This is something I hadn't heard of before, so I can't comment on whether they work well. I will note, however, the potential for a neat piece of equipment that will become difficult or impossible, or at least terribly expensive, to repair or replace when necessary. I've managed to ruin one vacuum sealer already (countertop variety) because I wasn't careful enough to keep liquid out of the pump. If that had been built into my oven drawer it might have been a nightmare. As it is, I could easily replace it.

This bit really made me laugh! But I feel your pain on the space issue. We began with a pickup-mounted camper, and after a summer of trips here and there, and a week solid on the road, we agreed we needed more space. I turned out some pretty good dinners, but quickly ran out of space if I tried anything like what I'd do at home...or here. Kudos to your husband for finding just exactly the right size cutting board for the stove top!

I too dislike sweet potatoes in almost every possible circumstance. That salad sounds detestable! When I was in San Diego last week Mr. BFF made a potato salad that I didn't photograph but did like very much. It had a touch of mayonnaise -- not much -- and chopped kimchi. Gave it a nice reddish color and a good kick.

Ah, I get it! Slow on the uptake. Sorry!

What would you expect instead? (I don't see a discussion of sprats in your topic about Fish Etc. in China, so i'm in the dark.)

This may be too many updates at once, but I'm getting ready to move and want to follow up on the remaining pork tenderloin tips. They'd been marinating since yesterday, and I absolutely, positively had to cook them today. This despite the heat and my getting-ready-to-go activities. In the collage below: a layer of mushrooms (purchased yesterday on my final, really final local grocery shopping trip that I haven't shown yet) covered by the marinated meat. On further reflection I decided to add the marinade to the cooking mix instead of cooking it down for later use. I put it in my Descoware dish, brought it briefly to a boil on stovetop, then put it into the oven at the lowest possible temperature. Then I went off to do other chores. The lower right image in the collage shows the cooked meat, but doesn't really show the sauce well. I had cooked rice on the stove. The sauce and meat went atop the rice, and some of my chopped chopped herbs went atop that. It also needed more soy sauce, then lemon and butter. Not bad. Not one for the "must repeat" books, but it has promise. The interesting thing is the texture of the meat. Nobody would accuse this of being tough. It was fork-tender. Was it mealy? Some might say so. I dunno. I didn't object to the earlier high-heat fast-cook treatment of a few days ago. My darling and my best friend might prefer this texture. I'll have to try side-by-side treatments with a broader jury.

I am delighted with the vinyl flooring in this trailer. I may see about adding a small vacuum cleaner to collect the loose fluff (I kept the old stick vacuum from the previous trailer) but in truth a broom and mop (Swiffer) do most of what a vacuum could do. Depending on the layout, might you add a drop leaf to the counter? That's what we did with the last trailer. My darling very carefully measured the thickness of our Boos Block cutting board, then mounted two very sturdy drop-down shelf brackets to support it. That made a huge difference in the working space for the previous Princessmobile. You can see an end view here (scroll down a bit) and a couple of top views here and here to see what I mean. We had to remove the board and drop the supports in order to bring the kitchen glide in and move, but once we were in place we kept them up all the time.

Thank you. I considered a motor home but since I already had an excellent tow vehicle I decided to stick with the pickup and fifth wheel. For the money, I get more space. What is comical to me is that, large as this trailer is for one person, it still can seem crowded sometimes. (Well, you've seen what I'm doing with the space - that is, filling it up). Given the 2 cats and large dog along for the ride, I think my darling and I would find it too cramped for months on end. It should suit more than one person in the shorter term, though. I am considering going home by way of Nevada so my sister can stay with me a few days. The couch folds out into a Queen-sized bed. I haven't decided the route home yet. If she does come stay with me, we'll see about the claims that this place can sleep 4!

One day in San Diego we went to North Park Produce, a Middle Eastern grocery store where I could get lost for days. My friend needed halal meat for a dinner party she was throwing. She knows my love of shopping and browsing, and she suffers from no such predilection herself -- at least, in the grocery store, she's more of a buyer than a shopper. We indulged each other: I aimed for the things I most wanted to see but skipped a lot else I'd like to have seen; she let me wander a bit and called my attention to things I might have missed. Her aim was the meat counter, for halal chicken. I admired a lot of other items there too. Look at that beautiful meat! I had to ask what a banana shank was. Have you heard of it? Know what it is? I wanted to look there for sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil, for the dipping sauce I intend to make at some point. I found 3 different brands. Couldn't decide. One has sunflower oil; one uses olive oil; one had sugar added. That one was the cheapest, of course. I left it and took one jar each of the other two. I'd thought that the one with sunflower oil also had olive oil mixed in. I see now I was mistaken. That's what happens when I hurry. Speaking of olive oil: there was a wonderful array of the stuff, as well as canola, canola/olive, sunflower, avocado, avocado/olive oils, and so on. I couldn't remember the status of olive oil here in the trailer. I knew the open bottle was getting low. Did I have any in abeyance? I decided to err on the side of caution. There was also a wonderful array of canned fish, smoked or otherwise. I have quite a few cans of anchovies and sardines, but this caught my eye and my curiosity, and made its way into my basket. I've heard of sprats but never had them as far as I know. Then there was a the produce section. Amazing! Huge, fresh ginger as big as my hand; sour melons; sour plums; tomatillos and carrots and other familiar produce that all looked fresh and good. I bought a largish piece of ginger and have already used most of it. Should have bought more. Ditto for the herbs, but I settled for mint since I knew I needed it. This is the first time I've seen green almonds or raw garbanzos. If you'd asked me, I'd have guessed that garbanzos / chickpeas come in pods more like peas. I'd have been wrong. I didn't take photos of the restaurant section, the breads, the spreads, the cheeses, or the kitchen gadgets. As I said, she was trying to hurry without hurrying me too badly. I bought some Danish white cheese. And now that I'm back "home" in the Princessmobile, I see I already had two, count 'em two, unopened bottles of olive oil. I'm sure there are two because I bought twice, forgetting what was in the belly box storage. I should make it home safely without needing to buy more. 🙂

I'm back inside after some 2 or 3 hours of exterior work. Air up tires, clean and lube glide seals, check generator, mount bike back on rack, clean interior of pickup. It's a good thing I started when I did, because it's getting hot outside now and the black surfaces (ladder, stair rail) are almost too hot to touch. I've plenty to do inside where the air conditioner is running. Before I forget, I want to show you a wonderful salad I had at my friends' house. It's based on Feasting at Home's Asian Slaw recipe. It's easy to make, once you shred / chop the cabbage. The main ingredients are cabbage, cilantro, a few green onions although we used finely chopped "regular" onion instead. The dressing is olive oil, a touch of sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, a bit of sweetener. We topped ours with peanuts; the recipe calls for optional toppings of chopped nuts or sesame seeds. The recipe writer notes that it's also a very forgiving and adaptable recipe: other elements can be added to the slaw (carrots or kohlrabi, for instance) so it's a pretty good clean-out-the-fridge salad recipe. We ate a LOT of this stuff, and it's something like tabbouli that I'll be able to eat again and again. It also made a nice topping for other salads, or for meats. It took well to having nut pastes added to it. It'll probably lend itself well to the wrap idea that @rotuts mentioned. I intend to do that with tabbouli, too. Tabbouli is on my list of interior chores for today. Oh, a comment on the finely chopped onion: my friend likes the flavor but it irritates her mouth and gut when she eats it raw even in small quantities. She tames the onion's bite by soaking the chopped bits in vinegar for a half hour or so. It did seem to keep the flavor but blunt the bite.

Breakfast. Urrp. I'll give myself a little time for that to digest before getting back to work, and tell you a bit about the San Diego trip. Working backwards, for the moment. I make no promises about chronological sequence. On my way back here on Monday, I stopped at Barons Market, near my friends' house, in hopes of scoring more of that great Bread & Cie bread. No luck this time: there were baguettes and a few other loaves, but none of the type I wanted. That's all right, though: this market's bakery also offers sourdough bread. I came away with: You can see some of the kalamata bread slices under all the avocado in the first picture. I don't know yet what I'll do with that lavash, but it looked too good to pass up. Other lavash offerings contained a dough conditioner, sodium citrate or some such. This doesn't. I didn't buy anything else at Baron's. I got back on the freeway for a few miles, then found my way to an H-Mart. H-Mart! A Korean superstore!! I've read about H-Mart from some other eGers but had only visited one for the first time during my previous trip to San Diego with my friends. That time, I'd picked up some soap dishes and some massively useful adjustable suction cups with hooks for the shower. I was hoping to find more of those suction devices. No joy. I didn't buy anything at H-Mart, but during my blitz through the housewares department I snapped a few photos for your enjoyment. Their produce and meat departments are wonderful too, but I didn't want to take time to be tempted.